Why+Smart+People+do+Stupid+Things



 Brian Campbell ; cambeze@gmail.com Mario Jacquez; itsmemario81@gmail.com Marie Varner: webethatway@gmail.com ||  ||
 *   || E-Game: "Don't be Stupid"

**Overview** This game aims to provide a supplement to the text //Why Smart People can be so Stupid// in the form of an electronic game, or e-game. Its design would take the form of a set of simulations focused on so-called "stupid" behaviors that are outlined in the book. In particular, the book is focused on follies that "smart" people sometimes do, such as procrastination, impulsiveness, etc. The designers would like to create a way for people to avoid these certain habits considered "stupid" or nonproductive. As a supplement to the text, we hope to give readers a chance to practice choosing smart behaviors over stupid ones, with the chance to reflect on their choices. We hope the game will have features that require the player to experience a decision-making process, in which each action has a certain consequence relative to "stupid" behaviors or actions. We aim to achieve this with the creation of a situational game in which players navigate a series of decisions based on presented scenarios.  **Instructional Objective** The primary objective of this game is to understand how smart people can make stupid decisions. Stupid decisions are considered those that lead to serious life consequences. Learners will acquire skills in the prevention of the following behaviors:  In order to learn how to prevent these behaviors, accomplish these things, learners will participate in a systematic process of lecture, video scenarios, tracking initial decisions, at-home online exercises, discussion, and reflection. After completing the course, learners will be able to make rational and smart decisions based on avoidance of decision-making pitfalls learned within the sessions. The selected scenarios, along with the text, will assist learners in recognizing potential areas for stupid decisions, viewing situations from a birds-eye perspective, and making smarter, more efficient decisions. A pre- and post-test scoring system will be conducted to measure any changes in performance as a result of the course. Given a set of decisions in a particular scenario, learners will achieve a 50% or greater reduction in the choice of stupid decisions.  **Learners** The learner profile for this e-game are students leaving high school or students entering their freshman year of college. These young adults are making decisions that can affect the rest of their lives. One can think of this course as a training ground, or "dry run" of sorts, for these young learners to navigate life as an adult. Hence, this game would accompany a course that would prepare students for college life and the decisions that go along with it. This group of learners are often very academically smart but susceptible to stupid choices that might have disastrous consequences. Many of these "book smart" people are naive and lack experience making choices. The choices that these learners make have both positive and negative consequences.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">false assumptions,
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">avoidance of good decisions for fear of inferiority,
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">decisions of folly (impulsiveness, neglect, procrastination, vacillation, backsliding, indulgence, overdoing and walking the edge),
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">poor decisions based in prior learning, etc.

The game could be used in a sociology or psychology course that would be focused towards freshmen in college or seniors graduating from high school. This game would be used on a single computer connected to a projector to facilitate discussions and reflections. The students would need a computer to complete the individual practice. The game would happen in three parts. The first portion of the game will be a class discussion, focused on a video scenario that will highlight one of eight reasons that smart people make stupid decisions, as explained in the in the book //Why Smart People Can Be So Stupid//. The video will present a situation that will be something that the learners might themselves face and the video will stop just before the choice is made. The class will then explain and discuss the choices they would make in the situation. This will be an open forum. In the second part, the learners will log onto the game site at home where they will play the e-game, which simulates various situations and presents them with two choices per scenario. The students will use the insights gained from the in-class discussion to make choices for the situations presented. In the third part, the learners will reflect on the choices they made and discuss as a class why their choices were smart or stupid. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Scope** This game will be a set of simulations, designed to be done about twice per week, for a total length of about a month. It is designed to be part of a course, rather than an entire course. Each day students are given a practice scenario focused on a particular "stupid action." The scenario is presented through a video format until a critical moment is reached. At that point, the video pauses, and a set of choices for the main character comes up. Students are asked to make their choice, then vote as a class to determine the most common response. The class could vote for each decision before they leave class and talk about (reflect) on the stupidity / smartness scale. Then, they would go home and work on the game, working through three to four similar scenarios (based on the same "stupid" behavior). When they return for the next class, the teacher walks them through a class discussion of the original scenario voted on during class. Students now have the opportunity to change their original choice, based on their learnings at home. The class gets to see the correct or "smartest" choice from this practice scenario.... and then move on to the next behavior and practice scenario. This process would repeat for a total of 8 times for the 8 behaviors outlined in the book. Throughout the process, students may reflect on the idea of achievable intelligence, that with practice, allows humans to become more efficient at making smart decisions. Seeking out help, going through a series of 3-4 scenarios similar to the example done in class. Therefore, students can only change their answer to the class-wide practice scenario... not their individual scenarios... Rather, these scores are stored for the length of the class. Then, at the end, the students get a game-generated report that outlines their choices and the results of those choices in the context of stupidity and smartness.
 * Context of Use**

The object of the game would be to obtain the most smart decisions and the least amount of stupid decisions at the end of the series of video scenarios. In order to do this, the player(s) must be able to decipher which decisions are smart vs. stupid in the context of each scenario.
 * Object of the Game**

In order to accomplish this, the teacher will facilitate group discussions and reflections based on their choice in each practice scenario. This will help assist learners in correcting their mistakes. This process helps the learner gain awareness of their mistakes so they can prevent them in future decision-making.

As the course progresses, there would be a continuum of Smart to Stupid. As the player(s) make more decisions, they accrue both smart and stupid "points." Whoever comes closest to the smartest factor at the end of the process would win the game. In addition to this group competition for the at-home scenarios, players could compete with themselves relative to the classes snap-decision vote -- that is, they can compare their improvement compared to the class. When everyone returns to vote again on the practice scenario after the reflection period, they could see if they would change previous answers from the night before, based on the reflection. The reflection would include both the individual and the group ones. At this point, the correct "group scenario" score would be given.

In order to track individual progress, students could keep a tracking worksheet that they bring to class each time. This sheet would allow students to record their choices put into the egame during their at-home sessions, as well as track any changes in their in-class responses.

In addition to these objectives of the game, pre- and post-test could be applied to determine growth over the entire period. This would give the student (and instructor) another metric that would measure development of "smart" skills.

Recap of Procedure: 1) First module where topic is introduced -- Procrastination, for example. Discuss in class, what it is, when it happens, how it affects us 2) Present class a practice situation (video)…. Stop.. you're person (x) what are you going to do? Make snap decision. 3) Go home and take a series of 3-4 simulations….. make decisions… 4) Go back next class meeting and see results of what they should have done… Discuss the ones they’ve already been scored on…. Looking back and reflecting. Look at their scores….. when they see the right answers. Worksheet contains reflection piece (short written reflection) Why was my choice right/wrong? 5) Then they vote again on the previous day's practice scenario (they can decide to change or not to change their original) 6) Process repeats with next "stupid" behavior and accompanying practice scenario. Competing Products

[] - Aimed at teaching teenagers how to make difficult decisions in their lives, such as relationships, education, child rearing, etc. Can be used for all ages, because it also deals with decisions throughout an individual's lifetime. This game uses character assimilation, as the players follow a relatable character through various scenarios and see how their decisions affect the characters life. The game allows for administrator led group discussions with regard to the outcome of the decisions.

[] - Aimed at teaching teenagers how to make business decisions, like what kind of business to start, ethical decisions with customers, how to grow a business, etc. Players are presented with a scenario and given three optional choices, which are then assigned first, second, or third place. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Design Details ** Much of this game centers around the at-home practice with athe simulation. Although we were not asked to construct the siulation, we have created a Powerpoint presentation with audio narration to to mimic the actual simulation that players would encounter. Instead of each scenario being recounted, they would watch an avatar act out a scenario, and then the frame would freeze, and two bubbles would pop up, offering the player a choice of next decision steps. Following is a screenshot of our Power Point presentation with narrated scenarios, each with a choice and reflection. Find the link to the presentation below in the //Universal Elements// section.

//Universal Elements// The color scheme of game will follow the sample slide. Dark gray with green and blue accents. The game will have a business like design that will use a mixture of audio and visual stimuli to keep the player engaged in the screens being present. The graphics will be photos and basic texts. Click below to open the powerpoint presentation: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> //Specific Elements// Since this e-game is really a combination of both a quiz game and a simulation, we have a multi-dimensional aspect to our game that requires some explanation. First of all, the quiz aspect comes from the fact that there are repeated quizzes of knowledge gained from each scenario in the module. The simulation comes from placing learners in the context of a situation where they must make a decision... therefore, they take on the role of the subject in the scenario. Our categorization scheme is centered around the eight major follies: __Impulsiveness (hasty action)__ - Loss of temper - Misplaced remarks - Rapid and strong buildup of drivers - Minimal management

__Neglect (too little, too late)__ - Not studying - Not attending - Not having a will - lingering issues, e.g., “leaky roof” syndrome

__Procrastination (like neglect, but willful and active)__ - Active avoidance - Breaking up a relationship - Suppression of drivers, - Defensive rationalizations

__Vacillation (indecision)__ - Dithering to excess over a decision - Changing paths, unable to settle on a single path - Emergent activity switching… driver buildup

__Backsliding__ - Adopt a new practice… Start strong, then fade back to old habits - Satisfied some drivers, then others take over again

__Indulgence (seen as pleasurable)__ - Pattern of excess, e.g., snacking or watching too much TV - Hard to satisfy drivers fully, leading to excessive focal activity - Escapism as a factor: respite from troubles, including indulgence itself

__Overdoing (like indulgence, but considered effortful)__ - Feeling compulsively driven to do more - e.g., prepare for an interview, etc.

__Walking the Edge__ In trying to avoid a problematic behavior, they skirt the edge and fall into it again Under the guise of self-management Holding one’s behavior just short of a critical phase (dangerous)

The scoring system would be based on questions that the students answer at home. They would not be scored on whether or not they got the in-class scenarios correct. For each undesirable behavior listed above, they would have both an in-class scenario and a take-home practice scenario that’s based on the discussion during class. Their score would be based on a scale of smart decision points. Given options in each scenario, they would be able to earn a total of 1 number point per smart decision made in each scenario. This way, they could keep a running tally of points as they progress through the course, as well as tabulate scores for particular scenarios. (Note: Survey Monkey could be a useful tool for recording responses, as well as course blogs for reflections... subject to designer preference)

The at-home scenarios would be presented to the students in a Sims game type format. The characters would act out the scenario and a bubble would appear with optional choices for the student. The students would receive a point for making the correct choice, but their score would be increased or decreased based on the length of time it took for them to make a choice. The scores would be recorded and coded for scoring purposes. The scores would be measured and shown on a scale from "Stupid" to "Smart". Codes would be used to identify each topic. For example, the 2nd question in the Vacillation scenario might be “V2,” while the 3rd question in the Procrastination example might be “P3,” and so on. By keeping track of these questions, along with the in-class practice examples and reflection, learners can keep track of their scores and adjust their learning to maximize their “smart score.” Following are some sample Practice Scenarios that match those in the Presentation.

//PRACTICE SCENARIOS// Scenario (Avoiding failure) Beth has been a star student, always getting A’s in all courses she has taken with minimal effort. She is now in college and is doing quite well in her Psychology courses. However, her advisor has suggested that she focus on getting more hours in Applied Research to obtain her overall career goals. This would require that Beth take more advanced courses in Mathematics, which has not really been her strongest talent. Should Beth take the courses in Math to better her chances in her chosen field? Or should she decline the course and focus on her goals without the Research experience?

At home Education has never been easy for you. You have worked hard and spent countless hours studying for your courses in Chemistry. While you have struggled in many of your courses, you have been able to overcome your difficulties and passed all courses with flying colors. However, your advisor is now asking that you take Biology courses because Biochemistry is the only type of position available in your residential area. Would you consider a course in Biology knowing that you don’t have much experience, or stick with Physical Chemistry and plan to move to another area?

Scenario (Impulsiveness) John just started a new job, making more money than he has ever made in his life. In the past, John has had to juggle his finances to afford his rent, utilities and other debt. It has been difficult, but he has been able to pay all his debts in a timely manner, making only minimum payments on his credit card debt. He has been driving a car that has more than 100,000 miles and is in need of repair. Should John buy a new car now that he is making enough to afford it, after all his car will require more repairs over the next year or so, or should he keep his car and make larger payments on his credit card debt?

At home You are currently living in an apartment that is being sold and you must find another apartment within the next 30 days. Your current income is $3,000 a month. The rent on your current apartment is $1,500 a month and you have other monthly debt of $1,000. This means you currently have about $500 disposable income per month, to cover your entertainment, food and necessities. You have been told that you will receive a 5% increase in the next 60 days. You have looked at two different apartments, one that is more desirable than your current apartment but will cost an additional $100 per month, and one that is comparable to your old apartment that is $50 less than your old apartment? Which do you choose?

Scenario (Neglect) George is given two tickets to a major baseball game. He is a huge fan of one of the teams that is playing. He notices that the tickets are behind home plate and the tickets are completely free. However, George realizes that he has a huge presentation early the next morning for his final exam in his Sociology class in which he has not been getting very good grades. He really needs this presentation to pass the course. Should George go to the game and work on his presentation when he gets home and hope for a good grade, or should he stay home and work on the presentation to get the best possible grade?

At home One rainy night, you notice that you have a slight leak in your roof. You swear to fix the roof the next sunny day you have available in your schedule. Two days later, on a sunny Saturday you are awakened by a friend of yours to attend a concert that night that you have been wishing you could attend. Your friend also explains that it is a three hour drive and you must leave in 1 hour. You immediately say yes, and begin to get ready. While dressing for the concert, you realize that you need to fix the leaky roof because a storm is expected the next day. Do you tell your friend that you can go to the concert, or do you skip the concert to fix the leaky roof?

//Technical Elements// Describe the: Software: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Platform: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Motivational Issues ** The motivation for this game lies in the real life application of the skills that will be gained as the players progress through the different modules of this game. The game is designed to satisfy all components of Keller's ARCS model. First, the name of the game grabs the player's **attention**. Initially the title of the game is a bit shocking and will get potential players to look closer at the game. As pla <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">yers are as <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">ked to participate in daily discussions and make decisions about issues that may be controversial or taboo, the amount of inquiry arousal and thought provoking questions grabs and maintains the players attention. Second, the topics and situations presented are **relevant** to the players' life. Many of the pitfalls of stupid decisions arise out of real-life situations. Third, the game develops the player's **confidence** in handling these difficult everyday decisions. Finally, the reflections, practice, and debrief sections allow the player to experience the **satisfaction** of knowing how to navigate the storms of adult life.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">PowerPoint is used to create the slides for the scenarios used in the game.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The slides will include the situation being read to the player. Garage Band will be used to record the audio clips.
 * Learner responses will be collected in Survey Monkey so the questions and options must be entered into the site so that responses for the take home scenarios can be collected and monitored.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">PC or Mac. The game will be played at school and home computers.

The players will have an opportunity to have an engaging discussion. In order to participate actively in these discussions, players must complete the at home portion of the game. Players are motivated to not be stupid in that the point of the game is to maintain a low stupid factor while maximizing their coolness. These two factors are updated throughout the game as the player makes choices.

When players ask themselves the question “ What’s in it for me?” the answer is simple; gaining the skills and knowledge of how not to make stupid choices in life. This is clearly stated in the objective and desired outcome of the game. Players are expected to walk away more informed and prepared to make well thought out decisions. This is clear when players participate in whole group discussion and reflections that allow them to have a safe place to make mistakes and be corrected without having to suffer the consequences of having made a stupid choice in the real world.

Players gain confidence in the security of having a safe place to make stupid decisions as they learn from their virtual mistakes and from the insights and experiences of their peers in the class discussion. Players can see and monitor their progress towards the goal and objective of the game. As they begin to make more informed choices they will see their stupid level go down and see that they are moving towards the intended goal.

Players will have a feeling of satisfaction as they compare their pre game score to their post game score. They will have a tangible score to compare in order to know exactly how much they learned. They will gain the knowledge and insight from completing the course and being less likely to make a stupid decision. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
 * Design Process **

Our first thoughts were "Oh no! What is this book about?" After we all began reading the book and gaining some insight into the ideas behind the book, we were more equipped to discuss the book and begin generating ideas of how we could form a game around the concept. We first began exploring what types of electronic games could be used in the realm of a classroom setting using created scenarios to generate discussion of the topic. It was discussed that the students could view a scenario that is then stopped at a crucial point in the scene where the individual was required to make a decision. We decided that it would be interesting to view how people make impulse decisions (or snap decisions) on a particular topic by taking a poll in the classroom immediately after the scenario. The students would then be asked to log onto a simulation at home that introduced another scenario (like Sims) in which the player would need to make a decision in a similar situation. They would then make their own individual choices. The following class session, students would be reassembled to discuss the rating of the in class scenario and how they made the impulsive decision in class. The students individual choices on the at home assignment would also be viewed and discussed. This would also allow the students to discuss the similarities and differences between the two scenarios. It was also decided that there would be approximately 8 different concepts to be covered in the overall program. Answers would be judged on a scale of smart decision to stupid decision. We then narrowed our focus to determine the most pertinent portions of the book to be covered, to include those listed above in the Motivational Objectives section.


 * References**

__//Books & Journals//__

Sternberg, R. J. (2002). //Why Smart People Can Be So Stupid//. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Schell, J. (2008). //The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses//. Burlington, MA: Elsevier.

Fullerton, T., Swain, C., & Hoffman, S. (2004). //Game Design Workshop: Designing, Prototyping, and Playtesting Games//. San Francisco, CA: CMP Books.

//__Electronic__// <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">http://www.e-learningguru.com/articles/art3_5.htm